


Bachelor's Degrees and Ben and Jerry's

by EwanMcGregorIsMyHomeboy12



Series: Ironstrange and Supremefamily Stories [4]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, Ice Cream, IronStrange, M/M, Mentorship, Supreme Family, ben and jerry's, college decisions, family support, scholarship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 01:24:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15546531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EwanMcGregorIsMyHomeboy12/pseuds/EwanMcGregorIsMyHomeboy12
Summary: It seems like a future following in Tony's footsteps at MIT is laid out in front of Peter, but what if there's another place he'd rather be?





	Bachelor's Degrees and Ben and Jerry's

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, folks! Sorry for the long break, my life has been literally insane all damn summer. I hope this is worth it! 
> 
> As always, hope you enjoy, please R and R!
> 
> Side note, if you are in the process of applying for colleges and scholarships, I am happy to read and provide edits completely for free if you're interested! It's such an important opportunity, and I see a lot of people let those small scholarship applications slip through the cracks even though they definitely add up to a lot of money and opportunity! I have experience on several sitting committees for those things, and really am happy to help out! Message me on tumblr at this same name, and we can talk more about that!

“You look like ten miles of bad road, Dr. Strange,” Peter was sitting at Tony’s counter, holding a spoon he was using to shovel Ben and Jerry’s at odd intervals between his lips. Stephen didn’t respond, letting the cloak look offended on his behalf as he collapsed onto a couch. With a quick sweep of his hand, he changed into more casual clothing: Jeans and a Grateful Dead T-shirt that he was pretty sure Wong had “borrowed” at one point.

Peter hummed, taking another bite of Chunky Monkey, clearly waiting on him to say something. Stephen wasn’t exactly sure what to say. He could say he had spent the entire day in an obscure dimension, not sure if still existed or not as the memories of this dimension had slipped ot the edge of his mind, just out of reach as he was battered on all sides by magic he had never seen before. He could tell Peter that he come back through a portal screaming, Wong having to catch him before he fell to the floor. That he had been so certain that Tony was gone, that everything was gone, that he had come here right after.

“It’s been a long day,” He said instead.

Peter nodded, swallowing a fairly large bite. “I get that,” He said, nodding again, swirling the top of his melted ice creams around with his spoon. “Aunt May is meeting with Mr. Stark right now.”

“About what?” Stephen lifted his head, eyes narrowing. It was rare that May came to Stark Tower, typically to give Peter the freedom he needed to embrace both his powers and personal interests as Spider-Man. It wasn’t all that often that Peter was at the Tower, truth be told, if he and Tony were meeting, it was often at Peter’s apartment. But as of late, with Spider-Man officially a member of the Avengers, and Tony’s almost-fanaticism at making improvements to his suits that Peter was by more and more often.

“I got accepted to MIT,” Peter said, trying to act nonchalant, though Stephen could hear the excitement behind his words. He pushed away the dark thoughts of the day, the near-panic attack and plastered a smile on his face as wide as he could.

“That’s great!” Stephen said, and Peter looked at the table where he was fidgeting with a napkin, turning it over and over in his fingers. The kid’s face flushed red at the praise, and he looked up with a shy smile. “I’m not surprised of course. Tony had mentioned you were working on the application.”

“Mr. Stark seemed really happy.” Peter agreed, scooping another bite and struggling to talk around it, covering his mouth with his hand. “Aunt May was really excited, too.”

“It’s not everyday someone gets into MIT,” Stephen smiled, watching Peter fidget a bit more under the praise. “Do you think you’ll go there?”

“What do you mean?” Peter looked up suddenly, almost confused.

“I mean, do you think that’s where you want to go to school?”

“Oh,” Peter looked down, stirring his ice cream so violently that Stephen was almost concerned that it would slosh out violently. “I…you know…it’s a great place…”

Stephen raised an eyebrow, something was wrong. “Have you found out about any other places?”

“A couple, but I don’t think Mr. Stark would like those as well…”

“Where are they, Peter?” This was not something Stephen had been expecting. He knew that Tony had been ecstatic that Peter had chosen to apply to MIT, but he couldn’t see Tony being upset if the kid chose to go elsewhere.

“You know, just some other places…Renesslear, Champlain...Columbia.”

Stephen tried not to look too surprised. “I didn’t know you’d applied to Columbia.”

“Well, after we talked about it that one time, I looked into their engineering options. It seemed like an incredible school!” Peter set his spoon down with a loud clatter, “They offer these summer modules where you get paired with a tech firm during your first summer! My teacher took us for a campus visit, it has one of the best new nano-tech labs in the country, second only to Mr. Stark, really. IT’s so cool, Dr. Strange, and the place is beautiful. But you already know that, of course you do. I just really loved it.”

“And you got accepted?” Stephen felt a fondness rush into his chest, both for his alma mater and for Peter, who was so excited about the future that he was talking faster than he was forming coherent thought. An endearing quality, one that he had come to expect in their often long-winded conversations.

“Yeah! I found out last week, and I’m in the running for this really great scholarship, and if I get it and live at home, then I can afford to go.” He said, a big grin plastered on his face. “Did you know Stark Industries is one of the partnerships? I could even work with Mr. Stark, but like…actually work with him, you know? Not just superhero stuff, but in the lab, too!”

There was a part of Stephen that knew for a fact that Tony Stark would pay for Peter to have on-campus housing and if the kid got paired with Stark industries for his work learning, that Peter would not be the only one excited with his new lab partner. “But you know, MIT will be great! And Mr. Stark will be excited about that, too!”

Btu now Peter sounded…lost. As if he had realized the same thing that Stephen had in that instant. “You should tell him if you want to go to Columbia, Peter.”

“You don’t think he’ll be mad?” Peter squinted, half-frowning. He looked almost afraid of upsetting Stephen now, who shook his head in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. He had found that what Christine had told him for years was true: If he wasn’t careful, he could hurt people very easily. Doing things he didn’t realize. Like not smiling at news like this, or asking all the wrong questions. He was trying now, and Peter gave a soft, relieved smile that let him know he had done the right thing.

“I think he’ll be proud, Peter,” He confirmed. “May as well.”

“Thanks,” Peter said, and they both turned as a door opened a bit down the hall. “You want some ice cream, I picked up some of the Hulk of Burning Fudge.”

Before he could answer, the door of the freezer was opened and a pint of his favorite ice cream was flying towards him, Bruce Banner’s alter-ego growling at him as he levitated it in mid-air.

“Kid?” Tony followed his voice out of the hallway, “You still here?”

“Still here, Mr. Stark,” He said around a mouthful of walnuts and banana puree. Stephen said nothing, waiting on Tony to notice as he took his own bite of ice cream.

“May and I have decided that if you want to accept the offer to go to MIT, you can use the money from your ‘internship’ to cover what scholarships wont.”

“If you also get a job on campus,” May said, coming up behind him. Peter opened his mouth, looking about to agree, before Stephen caught his gaze and he swallowed instead.

“Actually, May…Mr. Stark…I don’t think I want to go to MIT.”

“We talked about this, Peter, you’re going to college; college doesn’t mean you have to stop being an Avenger, but school comes first...” May seemed ready to do a long battle, which Stephen could admire, but Peter winced.

“I know, I know, its not that.” He looked over at Stephen, who gave a close-lipped smile, wishing that he had taken a more manageable bite of fudge. “It’s just, I don’t know that MIT is the right place.”

“Oh,” She let out a relaxed breath, “I didn’t realize you applied other places.”

“You didn’t mention them.”

Stephen almost felt bad for Tony, who looked lightly hurt. Not that Peter wasn’t going to MIT, but that he hadn’t known the full extent of the plan.

“I just thought it could be interesting, and you know how we went on that tour of Colombia last semester…”

“You applied to Colombia?” May’s eyes widened.

“And got accepted,” Peter said sheepishly. “And I might have a shot at a full-tuition scholarship for their engineering program. I…I thought I could live at home still, and I could do the program. It’s such a great place, they have partnerships with all these tech companies, there’s one with Mr. Stark, even! And campus is great, even if I can’t live there.”

“Of course you can.” Tony said, before May could open her mouth. Tony looked between May and Peter before his eyes fixed on Stephen, as if he suspected fully that the ice-cream eating wizard certainly had something to do with all of this. “I’ll take of that. If that’s what you want.”

“Mr. Stark, I----I don’t know what to say. It’s so expensive…”

“And money is the one thing I know that I have enough of to share.” Tony said, and crossed the living room, as if he were done with the conversation, sitting on the free cushion next to Stephen and reaching for the ice cream tub with a slight puppy-dog expression. Stephen rolled his eyes with a smile and handed it to him to take a big bite of his own. When he kissed him later, it would certainly taste of partially thawed chocolate.

“We should talk more about this,” May said, looking between them, leaning forward on the counter, “But I’ve got to be at work soon, so it’ll have to wait.” She put a hand on Peter’s shoulder, “Come on, let’s go.”

Peter recapped his ice cream and put it away, him and May joking around as he did, Tony eating ice cream. “Bye, Mr. Stark.” He said, standing with her in front of the elevator, “You too, Dr. Strange. And thanks for the talk.”

As the elevator doors shut, Tony turned to him. “I knew this had something to do with you.” He said finally, swallowing a last bit of chewy fudge. “Kid was gonna be the first Stark Scholar at MIT, but no! He wants to go to Colombia.”

Stephen waited for a moment, almost afraid that Tony was genuinely upset, though he wasn’t about to apologize for helping Peter. “I guess he’ll have to the first Strange scholar at Colombia!” He said, with an exasperated shout and a wink. Stephen grinned, only for it to change to a look of righteous indignation as Tony stood, taking his ice cream. “I’m keeping this though.”

“Tony!”

“I have to drown my sorrows in chocolate, Stephen, my protégé has replaced me with a dimension traveling, medical-degree holding wizard.” And he disappeared into his bedroom, vanishing for all of four seconds before his head poked back out. “Well,” He asked, “Are you going to join me in here or what?”

Stephen smiled and rolled his eyes before standing, the cloak settling itself where he had been sitting on the couch. He walked towards Tony, hearing the thumps of the man’s expensive shoes hitting the closet floor, letting the day spent in interdimensional hell drift away from his thoughts. This, whatever it truly was, was certainly real. Or at least, it felt very real. A pair of arms wrapped around him, the smell of chocolate hitting his nose as a mouth hovered very close to his own. Even it wasn’t real, he decided, it was more than enough to make him happy, and he let go of that last drop of bitterness as he melted into a familiar kiss.


End file.
